Audrina Patridge Finds DWTS 'A Lot Harder Than I Thought'

I'm looking forward to writing this blog and giving all of you Dancing With the Stars fans a glimpse into each week. When the show asked me to participate, I was instantly on board – no hesitation! I did tap, jazz and ballet when I was eight years old, but that doesn't really count because ballroom dancing is such a different animal. It's actually a lot harder than I'd thought. But I'm loving every second of it!

Tony [Dovolani] and I have been rehearsing for about two and a half weeks so far, and my muscles ache every night. The first week I had the worst blisters from getting used to dancing in heels. Funny thing is now when I get pedicures I tell them not to take the calluses off. I actually want calluses on my feet because then they don't hurt as much when I'm dancing. But you know what they say: some of the most beautiful dancers in the world have the ugliest feet!

I'm developing all the muscles in my back, my core, my calves, my thighs – everything is getting very toned. I keep telling Tony that if I feel like this in two weeks, I can't wait for another month to go by.

Tony is an amazing teacher – he just gets me. We're both really goofy, but focused and serious at the same time. He gave me a bracelet with an evil eye on it to protect me and keep away anybody who's sending bad energy or saying mean things. Tony says it blocks all that. So I wear that for good luck ¬ but sometimes it doesn't go with my outfits!

One of my favorite movies is Dirty Dancing, so you can only imagine how excited I was to learn that Jennifer Grey was on the cast! I absolutely adore her. I am such a big fan! We see each other in the rehearsal studio all the time. She gave me a care package with a ton of bandages for my feet and a B12 shot. She saved me! Then she was like, "Okay, hold on. You need one more thing! Here's some perfume so you smell good for Tony." Thank you, Jennifer!

I was also excited to meet Florence Henderson because I loved The Brady Bunch when I was little. She just has this amazing aura about her. She's so sweet nice and has the best sense of humor. Rick Fox is really funny, too. I see Kyle every day, and he's always so happy and giggly. The other day, Tony was showing him how to do pull-ups in one of the doorways.

We're all very nervous about doing our first dance on Monday night. Tony and I are doing the cha cha to Katy Perry's "California Gurls." It's a really fun, vibrant, sexy, girly dance. My outfit is very bright with lots of movement. You look at it, and you just think, "California girl." I hope everybody enjoys it! Our main goal is to get everybody up and wanting to dance along with us.